


People Like Us

by Kalloway



Category: Gundam SEED & Cosmic Era Gundam
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 22:42:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12757641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Post-Destiny, Kira is in Orb helping with a global clean-up effort while Cagalli is still trying to settle into her role as leader. When a private moment is captured completely out of context and makes headlines, however, things quickly get complicated for both of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter originally posted May 5th, 2011. Ongoing. 
> 
> AO3 version lightly edited from the original. 
> 
> A special thank-you to guety for beta-reading some of the early chapters.

"Can I get to work?" Cagalli asked after yet another round of photographs. Further down the beach, she saw familiar faces among both Orb's military and ZAFT and wanted to thank them, at the very least, for coming - while they were still doing actual work.

And Kira was there and she hadn't gotten a chance to even say hello, which was frustrating at best.

"You're actually going to go help?" Iolana Loe, Cagalli's new press secretary, questioned. Slowly, Cagalli had been combing through the ranks and freshening up any part of Orb's government that she could. And Iolana was both young enough to be relevant and smart enough to not make a mess of things. However, she just wasn't quite used to Cagalli's personality yet.

"Of course," Cagalli replied firmly. "And so are you, since we're done with photographs and soundbites, unless you can convince the media to come help as well."

"Well..." Iolana looked a bit lost for a moment before recovering. "It'll look great to have some pictures of you with your pants rolled up a bit, helping. Stay close to some of the soldiers, too - both Orb and ZAFT."

Cagalli frowned. "I'm not doing this for the photo opportunity," she said flatly. "I'm doing this because it needs to be done."

And with that, she headed down towards the water, Iolana trailing behind.

Months had passed since the end of the war, and while the country was steadily rebuilding what it could, other, smaller-yet-important issues had surfaced. Literally. Debris from battles was washing ashore and there were growing concerns about the safety of just leaving wreckage in the water around the world.

So far, there had been several joint operations between ZAFT, the remains of OMNI, Orb, other neutral areas that could send personnel, and anyone else available to clean up the worst areas. Now it was Orb's turn for attention.

And yes, after being unable to personally assist anywhere else due to other duties and commitments, Cagalli was definitely going to get a little dirty and help clean up her own nation.

A distance off-shore, a row of ZAFT, Orb and a lone formerly-OMNI ship were anchored, supporting the aquatic mobile suits that were fishing up debris from below. And on the beach, a group was sifting through the sand with various tools, picking out metal and other debris. There had been a strong storm the morning before, which had left the beach in far worse shape than normal - unfortunately perfect.

"Kira!" Cagalli called as she got closer, raising a hand to wave.

Kira looked up immediately. He still had part of his white uniform on, but had shed his jacket in the heat of the afternoon.

"Cagalli!" In seconds, he'd raced over to her. "I didn't know if you'd make it down."

"Neither did I," she admitted with a tiny smile. His hair was getting long. "I had to get through a wall of reporters first."

Nodding, Kira couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, that's been happening to Lacus, too. I guess it just goes with the job, huh?"

"Yeah," Cagalli replied softly. "So how's it going down here?"

"Good," Kira replied before offering her the debris bucket he was still holding. "We can work together?"

"I can get--" As tempting as it was to go get her own set of sifter and bucket, and to challenge Kira to find more debris, she hesitated. Working together would at least mean they could talk a bit. "Well, okay. Just this once."

Kira chuckled. "C'mon. Lunamaria and Shinn are here too..." He gestured further down the beach. "Last I know, Shinn was telling Luna about when he used to come here as a child."

Unable to help a smile, Cagalli wished she'd been able to come to the beach more often while growing up. But it simply hadn't happened. And likely wouldn't, given her situation.

"Representative..."

Cagalli glanced back to see Iolana slogging through the sand, carrying her own bucket and shovel.

"This is...?" Kira questioned.

"My new press secretary," Cagalli replied. "Iolana Loe."

"You already have..." Iolana gestured to the bucket that Cagalli was holding.

"Yeah," Cagalli said quickly. "I'm going to help Kira -- Commander Yamato."

She managed not to let a little giggle slip. It felt weird calling him that. She'd never referred to him by his title when he'd been in Orb, after all, aside from when she'd first given it to him. And even then, she'd laughed.

"Oh," Iolana said quickly. And then she looked Kira over for a long moment. "You look familiar."

"I'm from Orb," Kira admitted, and while for a moment Cagalli wanted to smack him, there was no way a simple background search wouldn't bring up that much information. Cagalli also took a careful step away. In certain lighting, she knew she and Kira could look quite a bit alike.

"And so is Shinn," Kira continued quickly, gesturing on down the beach. "The one with the dark hair. If you want someone more interesting to talk to, I mean."

Iolana shook her head. "No, I just..."

Cagalli shot her a little look. Not worth pursuing - let it drop. Iolana read her perfectly.

"I guess I'll get to work," Iolana said after a moment.

"Us too," Cagalli stated as she marched off towards the water.

~*~

By the time the sun was sinking below the horizon, all of the ships had been brought in to port and a line of mobile suits, mostly aquatic and some belonging to the Junk Guild and other groups stood in rows nearby. Everyone was given rooms on shore, because another storm was blowing in fast. It would be clear again by morning, but it cut the day's activities.

However, it did make for a good excuse for filling as many unused diplomat quarters with ZAFT and former-OMNI personnel as possible. And, as Iolana said with a smile, it looked really good.

Cagalli couldn't care less about how it looked - she was more concerned with taking proper care of the people entrusted to her. And she wanted to go out, if possible, in one of the mid-depth mobile suits the next day and scavenge on her own -- apparently Erica Simmons had attached equipment onto a handful of Astrays and Murasames so that they could better locate wreckage in shallow water.

"Hey, Cagalli..."

She'd been heading towards her own suite of rooms, lost in thought, when she heard Kira's voice.

"Kira?" she turned, surprised.

"I still have clearance," he admitted with a little smile.

She laughed. "I'm not surprised."

"Have you eaten?" he questioned. "I know you've been busy."

Shaking her head, she realized that indeed, she was actually rather hungry. She just hadn't had time to be hungry yet.

"I'll get something," Kira said quickly. "You're alone?"

"Yeah," Cagalli said. "Thanks. You do all this stuff for Lacus, too?"

"No," Kira replied with a bit of a frown. "It's... we... I'll explain later, I guess."

Cagalli nodded. They'd not been able to talk about anything too private on the beach. Not with Iolana and everyone else flitting around. It hadn't been a bad thing - just frustrating. She'd wanted to ask about people, and she knew he had too. But they'd kept quiet and only allowed the most stilted and shallow of conversations.

Mostly they'd worked.

"I'll..." Her stomach rumbled before she could finish.

"Go sit." And Kira headed off, not even bothering to ask what she wanted. Typical. But after changing into something that didn't smell like salt and burned metal and making sure she didn't smell as bad as her clothing, she settled into the sitting room of her quarters to wait.

She didn't have to wait long.

The storm started outside just seconds before Kira arrived with a tray of thick sandwiches and fruit.

"It's going to be another bad one," she said with a little headshake as Kira set the tray down. "Did you have any trouble?"

Kira shook his head. "No, luckily." He sat and waited for her to return from gazing out the window at the black sky.

"Good. And that looks pretty good - not too heavy." She smiled as she settled beside him on a sofa. "You wouldn't believe what they think I should be eating sometimes. I know when I was younger..."

"You probably only ate the same three things, right?" Kira asked with a knowing smile. Cagalli frowned at him for a moment.

"How did you...?" And then she laughed. "Really? You too?"

"Until I met Athrun," Kira said as he reached for to stab his fork into a few pieces of fruit. "He gave me a nice little lecture about my preferences."

"You ever hear from him?" Cagalli asked after a little pause. She reached for her sandwich, which looked to be mostly vegetables with cheese and fish. Not bad.

"No," Kira admitted. "But it's only been a few months. He'll turn up. He headed to western Europe, didn't he?"

"Yeah..."

"It's not your fault, Cagalli," Kira interrupted. "That's just how Athrun is."

"I know that," Cagalli replied quickly. "I didn't say it was my fault."

They ate in silence for a moment, alternately looking at their food and towards the window at the darkness where the storm was raging.

"Hey, you changed clothing..."

"You just noticed?" Cagalli set her half-eaten sandwich back on the tray and reached for a piece of pineapple.

"Not really," Kira admitted. "I did when I got back but..."

"Well, I was a bit dirty," Cagalli said. And then she blinked a few times. "You always pay attention to what I'm wearing?"

"Yeah," Kira admitted. "Of course."

Cagalli ate the pineapple.

"You're right, though." Kira leaned back a moment as lightning flashed outside. "I could use a shower before bed."

"You're staying here, right?" Cagalli asked. "Well..."

Nodding, Kira chuckled. "I managed to get my duffel off the ship, yes. I'm not sure Lunamaria was so lucky, though. She may be borrowing something in the morning."

"Storms..." Cagalli shook her head. "When I was a kid, I'd build a fort out of pillows and blankets and hide."

Kira was quiet a moment. "You know," he said softly, "there aren't thunderstorms or anything like them in the PLANTs. There are probably soldiers hiding under their covers right now."

Cagalli chuckled and went back to her sandwich, ignoring a clap of thunder that made the windows rattle.

"I've missed you," Cagalli said once she'd finished eating. And she turned to eye Kira. "And so has your mother. You are going to go visit her, right?"

"Of course," Kira replied. Cagalli could tell that he hadn't even really thought about it. Typical. For everything that Kira was supposed to be, he was a real idiot sometimes.

"I'll go with you?" Cagalli said. She stacked the few plates on the tray and set it aside.

Kira shook his head. "Better not to? I'm not sure how, but I think your little shadow from earlier would try to get a headline out of it."

"Iolana," Cagalli noted with a little nod. "Yeah. She's good, but she's... a little much, too. I'm trying to make everything good here - a veteran's program accepting soldiers from any army, all sorts of funding for mental health and festivals and arts and anything good... And she's helping to make it into something other than a list of stuff. It's definitely keeping us busy."

She paused.

"You're probably right though. With all the current fuss, there'd probably an extra question or two about why I was accompanying a ZAFT commander to visit his mother," Cagalli said. "Safer not to."

They looked at each other for a long moment.

"Thanks for getting dinner." Cagalli offered a little smile. "It'd probably still be hours before I remembered, to be honest. Unless someone else tracked me down. But I think everyone's fussing over the extra company. What we were supposed to do was have a beach picnic... thing... with lanterns and a ceremony honoring the dead."

"But the storm..." Kira trailed off as thunder rumbled louder than his voice.

"We'll do it another night," Cagalli replied. "You'll be here for a week, right?"

Kira nodded. "A week here and then off around Australia again."

"Lacus doesn't miss you?"

"She does," Kira said with a bit of a wistful smile. "But she's been as busy as you've been and I think I was getting a little stir crazy up there in space. Besides, even if I'm doing other things too, it gives me a chance to see you."

"And your mother," Cagalli added quickly, giving Kira a poke in the shoulder.

"And Mwu and Murrue and Captain Waltfeld and Erica, too," Kira added as he poked Cagalli back before tugging her into a hug. Lightning flashed and the lights dimmed for just a second.

Surprised, Cagalli clung to Kira for a long moment.

"Scared?" Kira questioned. "I thought you outgrew that."

"I don't like when the power goes out," Cagalli said flatly. She wrinkled her nose. "And yes, you do need to shower."

"You haven't let go," Kira noted. Thunder rumbled again.

"Neither have you." She leaned up and kissed his cheek just as another round of lightning flickered outside the window.

"What was that for?"

"Not laughing," Cagalli replied as she let go.

"I told you, you're going to have a lot of Coordinators telling epic stories about it in the morning," Kira replied. He stood and smoothed his uniform. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Nodding, Cagalli headed towards the door. She winked. "Don't get caught."

"I have clearance and I'll only be downstairs--," Kira reminded her with a grin. "But don't worry. I won't get caught."

Cagalli simply shook her head.

"Night," she said as Kira headed out into the hallway.

"Night," Kira replied before starting on his way.

Lightning lit up the room again as Cagalli closed the door. A shower would have to wait til morning, which was fine. Even though it was kind of early, she at least wasn't hungry and there wasn't much else to do anyway. She could look over some proposals that were waiting for her if she really wanted to bore herself to sleep early.

Which was exactly what she did, aside from them not being too terribly boring once she started reading. At least the power didn't go out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Cagalli protests all the wrong things.

Judging by the loudness and frequency of the pounding at her bedroom door, something was either on fire or war had broken out. Considering the mixture of military forces on the premises, as soon as Cagalli was awake enough to recognize the noise, she immediately feared for the worst.

Instead of soldiers, however, it was Iolana outside her room, holding a copy of the morning newspaper.

Cagalli blinked, trying to breathe. "Iolana?"

Iolana's eyes were huge. "Why didn't you tell me so I could prepare for this?!" she asked as she held the paper up for Cagalli to see the front page photo.

Grainy, blurred by the rain but unmistakable - somehow her dinner with Kira had been captured on film, most notably the tiny playful kiss on the cheek that she'd given him.

Cagalli's stomach dropped for a second before she recovered enough to ask what she desperately hoped was the correct question.

"What does it say?"

Iolana gave Cagalli a stern look and slipped past her to sit at a small table in the nearest corner of the room.

"Come sit," she said with a little sigh. "We'll go over this together."

Cagalli moved slowly, panic rising in her chest. Not even knowing how to answer anything - or protest - was nearly overwhelming. Even though she knew she could trust Iolana, to a degree, not knowing what had been discovered was terrifying.

But she sat, finally, and took a deep breath and waited.

"You didn't tell me your ZAFT Commander friend is Freedom's pilot," Iolana said flatly. "And by 'friend', I apparently mean..."

"Ah..." Cagalli started to interrupt, but at that exact moment, the bedroom door flew open again, revealing a half-panicked, somewhat rumbled Kira.

"Cagalli!"

"Kira!"

"You're okay!" Kira said quickly before rushing over to her. "Someone came and told me to get here quickly and I was afraid something had happened."

"I'm fine," Cagalli replied before looking at Iolana. "I think?"

"You're Freedom's pilot," Iolana said, momentarily ignoring Cagalli to instead look over Kira before gesturing that he should really go back and close the door.

Nodding and mumbling what sounded like an apology, Kira took care of the door and, lacking an empty chair, settled on the near corner of Cagalli's bed. He looked nervous and hesitant and only then did Cagalli realize that he just really didn't know what was going on.

"This," Cagalli said as she tugged the newspaper away from Iolana and held it out to him.

Kira stared a moment, obviously going through all the same reactions that Cagalli had, before blushing a deep red. "That's..." And like Cagalli, he couldn't quite find the right, 'safe' question to ask.

"It's probably completely out of context," Cagalli finished for him. "Maybe."

She looked back at Iolana once she realized that she couldn't help Kira any more than she already had. "What does it say, anyway?"

Finally Iolana smiled. Cagalli hoped that it was just at their presumed innocence instead of their hidden guilt.

"That you were caught snuggled close to the same ZAFT Commander that you were seen on the beach with earlier in the day - who happens to be Freedom's pilot and the man who kidnapped you from your own wedding," Iolana explained before her expression settled into a chiding frown. "Did you not think that was worth mentioning?"

Cagalli winced. "It's not... well..."

"We're..." Kira took another turn at trying to explain, but lacking an explanation that he could say out loud, he just trailed off and stared at Cagalli for a long moment. And then promptly took off his uniform jacket and walked over to settle it around her shoulders - she was still wearing only her nightgown.

Blushing, Cagalli pulled it close and then reached to grab Kira's hand before he could go back over to the bed. She squeezed and he squeezed back.

"We've known each other for a long time," Kira said finally, to which Cagalli nodded. It was a good safe response until they could talk privately about what good, safe responses were.

Nodding, Iolana opened her mouth to speak but was immediately interrupted by the beeping of her PDA. She snatched it up and began poking through messages.

The twins gave each other a quick worried glance before turning their attention back to Iolana.

"Well?" Cagalli questioned. "More... news?"

Iolana nodded, nearly beaming. "People love you," she said proudly, and seemed to almost instantly relax.

"Eh?" Cagalli questioned. "People like us?"

"Love us," Kira corrected, before the idea really sank in. "Wait..."

Cagalli finally let go of his hand, but he stayed close and settled for resting a hand on her shoulder.

Iolana nodded. "The world seems to love the idea of Orb's widowed princess kissing the man who stole her away from her own wedding."

"But... we were not officially married!" Cagalli objected, knowing full well that was not the part that she should be objecting to.

"So figure out where you two want to go for your first public date and I'll work on a press release," Iolana said after a pause.

"Date?" Cagalli questioned before thinking. "We can't!"

"Why not? Iolana asked. "Dating an Orb-born Coordinator ZAFT Commander is perfect... Unless there's some other reason?"

Kira squeezed Cagalli's shoulder.

"No," he said firmly. "It's okay. We're just... a little shocked by how this all came out. And... if you need to know, we weren't together back... when... you know."

Wanting to retort, because it all just seemed wrong, Cagalli took a deep breath and kept quiet. She was going to trust Kira, for now.

"Wonderful," Iolana said, beaming now as she glanced back and forth from them to her PDA. "And glad I can mention that little fact, even if most people won't believe it. You two do look so good together."

Before Cagalli could think of anything else to say, Iolana was gone, leaving the twins staring at each other in a long, awkward silence.

Finally, Cagalli stood and walked over to the bed, flopping back on it and sighing.

"What are you thinking?" she questioned as she reached to pull a blanket over her bare legs. She didn't let her gaze leave the ceiling.

"It's going to work," Kira said softly. A moment later, Cagalli felt his weight on the bed. "Really. All we have to do is go on a couple of dates and break up because we don't want a long distance relationship."

"But what about everyone who knows...?" Cagalli didn't even want to consider what they'd be thinking. It made her ache.

"I'm sure they'll play along," Kira replied. Cagalli closed her eyes when she felt his hand in her hair, stroking softly. Comforting. "They have so far."

"Fine," Cagalli said after a long moment. She knew that Kira was right. And then she had another thought. "I wonder if Athrun has seen..."

"Probably," Kira replied. He pulled his hand away, but he was still close. "He's probably laughing."

"Yeah... maybe..." She felt Kira's weight shift and when she opened her eyes she wasn't too terribly surprised to find herself staring up at him.

"So where do you want to go for our first date?" Kira asked softly, but smiling. Yet there was still a bit of an odd waver when he spoke. Cagalli chalked it up to awkwardness, because that's what she was feeling.

"I don't know, you pick," Cagalli replied. She pushed him back so she could sit up, though she kept his jacket close around her. Iolana really should have given her the chance to get dressed - this probably never happened to any other member of the Orb government. "Or let Iolana pick," she continued. "Somewhere that isn't romantic."

There was a long silence between them, again, as everything threatened to sink in. Years before, they'd started growing far too close for siblings, not that they'd known they were. But even considering that, again, even as a ruse...

"Hey..." Kira reached to pull Cagalli into a tight hug, thankfully distracting her from her own line of thought. "We can do all the stuff we didn't get to do together as kids."

"Sleepovers with Athrun?" Cagalli suggested, unable to resist and giggling just a bit. "I have done that."

"I was thinking more like mini-golf and hot dogs and the beach," Kira replied. He paused. "You're not mad at him?"

"No," Cagalli said with a sigh. "Being mad at Athrun for being Athrun is like being mad at water for being wet. It's just how he is."

"I'm sure he'll come back." Kira hadn't let go at all and reached to stroke Cagalli's hair again.

"I know," Cagalli said softly. "I know."

* * *

After breakfast - after sending Kira on his way and getting dressed - Cagalli settled into her office to take care of everything she'd read over the night before while it was still somewhat fresh in her mind. She would get down to the shore as soon as possible, but she didn't want to seem too eager. Besides, this was important, too.

But curiosity was getting the better of her as the morning progressed. She had her laptop open and set to refresh on the news feeds, which had gone crazy after Iolana's press statement was released. As a distraction, the situation was formidable. And though Cagalli was trying to focus, it quickly became a losing battle. Eventually she just read, taking in opinions from around the world and from space.

Not long after that, a welcome distraction from her distraction finally appeared. Though she was carrying a Morgenroete envelope, Murrue Ramius quite obviously hadn't arrived at Cagalli's office in the name of official business. Cagalli made a mental note to send Erica Simmons an email of thanks.

But it was only after Cagalli had closed her office door did she even whisper a word.

"We have a plan," she said as she circled around to sit at her desk.

"I assumed that much," Murrue admitted with just the barest hint of a chuckle. "But how are you and Kira going to..."

"Really good acting," Cagalli said quickly. "And modesty and closed doors and curtains. We can play cards for all the paparazzi will imagine us doing."

"There hasn't been an official response from the PLANTs," Murrue commented as she eased into one of Cagalli's visitor chairs. They weren't terribly comfortable for a reason, but Cagalli really didn't think Murrue would stay long anyway. "That's what Andy is waiting for."

"Lacus will understand," Cagalli said firmly. "It's not like I can keep Kira, after all. We figure a month or so will be enough to play this mess out."

The look that Murrue was giving her was not quite the one Cagalli was hoping to see. Yes, there was sympathy, but...

"I want you to be careful," Murrue said softly, not actually articulating her concern though the hesitation in her voice was more than enough.

Murrue had been there for most of her early days with Kira and there was little that had truly escaped her when it came to the Archangel 'family'. And considering how close she and Kira had gotten before they learned they were related -- Cagalli understood Murrue's concern completely.

The thought had crossed her mind, of course. More than once. But she'd pushed it back away with paperwork as best she could.

"Murrue, we know nothing can happen," Cagalli said softly, looking half-away. "I... well, that's really it."

Because her feelings for Kira had never really changed. Faded a bit in intensity, yes, but not changed from attraction to what she assumed a sibling fondness should feel like. It had made a lot of things difficult and she'd been thankful for Athrun and the love they'd shared, because it took away the awkwardness that could surface when she and Kira were around each other. But she'd never told anyone and she'd certainly never asked Kira about it.

Which, she knew, led to playful kisses, little gestures, and generally not knowing how to feel the correct feelings. But she'd had Athrun...

She would always love Athrun, too. But she couldn't be what he needed and she understood that.

Athrun, the last time anyone had heard from him - something that grew quickly infrequent - was somewhere in Europe, repairing and maintaining equipment being used for rebuilding efforts. Cagalli wasn't sure if Athrun had resurfacing guilt or what had prompted his decision, but if what he was doing helped him find peace, well, he had her blessing.

Murrue's voice snapped her back out of her thoughts.

"Then have a good time," Murrue said, mustering a smile. "And tell Kira to come visit us before he leaves."

She paused.

"And be careful, Cagalli."

"I know..."

Murrue was, in so many ways, the older sister Cagalli had never had. And she knew that Murrue had her best interests at heart.

"Thanks, Murrue."

Smiling, Murrue handed her the folder. "It's empty," she admitted. "But it'll look weird if I return with it."

Cagalli nodded as she accepted it and tucked it onto her 'to-do' pile.

"And if you need to talk..." Murrue smiled as she stood to see herself out.

"I know..."

Murrue offered a small wave, that Cagalli returned before leaning back in her chair and sighing once her door was closed again.

The fears she'd been trying to keep at bay - that this little farce would be far more difficult than she'd imagined - were suddenly very real.

* * *

Hours later, Cagalli was happily - as happily as she could given the situation - scooping debris from forty feet of water courtesy of a borrowed Astray. She'd offered to let Iolana, who was still whipped into a one-woman frenzy, ride along with her. But that had apparently been a bad suggestion, judging by the green color that Iolana had turned just from looking at the mobile suits.

At least, aside from the constant com chatter in the background, she had some peace and quiet.

And she hadn't seen Kira yet.

Which was starting to make her very curious.

However, the work took over her thoughts completely, quickly, and she stopped worrying about anything aside from what she was fishing up. Mostly she'd been finding metal panels and internal pieces possibly from ships. At first she'd been overwhelmed by sadness, but after the first dozen had been dumped onto a waiting barge, there wasn't really any reason to keep dwelling.

A sudden direct message nearly startled her - "Red to Rouge--"

Cagalli blinked once before answering - and realizing who 'Red' was. The sudden appearance a moment later of a repaired and recolored Impulse beside her confirmed the identity of the voice.

"This is Rouge."

"Thanks for the change of clothes..." There was a pause. "But... I really can't believe you're dating the commander."

Cagalli reached for the button to respond. She'd actually managed to hit it when she wasn't thinking about it, but now she wasn't just going on instinct. Astrays had never been her forte - and damn she missed Juri, Asagi and Mayura...

"I mean," Lunamaria continued before Cagalli could respond, "the rumors last month that he and Chairwoman Lacus split... Well I never would have believed it but..."

Cagalli didn't even hear the rest - Kira had said that he'd have to explain his relationship with Lacus, but...

"Anyway - I spotted what looks like most of a Dagger about four-hundred feet south. Give me a hand?"

Cagalli finally hit the button. "Yeah... Of course."

Though what she really needed to do had nothing to do with debris. She needed to talk to Kira.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, many small gestures begin to build into a greater energy...

That evening there was no sign of rain. There, was, however, a huge festival-memorial with food and lanterns and dancing and everything else. Honestly, after the storms the night before, Cagalli hadn't thought it could be pulled off.

Mentally, she kicked herself for doubting the resilience and ingenuity of the people of Orb.

And while all Cagalli wanted to do was get a few minutes alone with Kira, the harder she tried, the more obstacles she faced.

At least she had one of her more reliable escorts for the evening - Commander Waltfeld. She'd been seen on his arm enough times that no one even blinked - possibly because he was already in an Orb uniform, possibly because she'd never kissed him. There were other reasons, of course, but Cagalli preferred not to think of the press as being so short-sighted. Andy was a good man, but also very involved with his own relationships anyway.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her midway through the evening. They'd managed to borrow, or possibly rent, Cagalli wasn't entirely sure since she hadn't been doing the negotiations, a large beach blanket and gone to sit on a relatively empty section of the beach away from the water and the bonfires and other excitement.

He'd carried the blanket, she'd carried the food and drinks without effort, despite his protests that he was perfectly capable.

She picked at a piece of barbecued pineapple.

"Tired," she admitted. "Worried - I want to talk to Kira."

"The official message from the PLANTs was one of peace and hope," Andy said. He grinned and ate a bit of his meat. "But I'm sure you'll have a more personal version waiting for you later."

Cagalli sighed. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, but she just wasn't quite ready to relax and eat. Lacus wouldn't say anything mean-spirited, and besides, she knew that this would be a sham-relationship and there was no way she and Kira could ever actually date. But beyond that... Cagalli just didn't know.

"I'm sure I will," she said. She picked at the pineapple more before finally just setting it aside for a long moment. "I also need to spend a little more time talking to Kira just so we have our story straight. I spent half the day trying to be as vague as possible to Lunamaria Hawke while she asked me about three hundred questions."

And knowing what she knew about Lunamaria from things Athrun had said...

"Luna's far from stupid. She was fishing in the name of girl talk," Cagalli continued. "I think I was good, though."

"She apparently didn't do her research if she thought she'd get 'girl talk' from you," Andy said with a little chuckle. "What did you finally drive her off with?"

"Hey!" Cagalli couldn't help laughing. His evaluation was perfect. "I just sort of told her about some of Orb's new social programs, and told her if Shinn ever wanted to stay for a bit, they were both welcome."

She smiled. "And then I think she forgot she was supposed to be getting information from me and just wanted to talk about Shinn."

"Girl talk," Andy surmised.

"Whatever," Cagalli replied. "I was busy attempting to haul up part of a Murasame. Still had the pilot inside, dammit..."

She was glad she'd decided there was no point to eating just yet.

When he reached to rest his hand on her shoulder, she didn't shrug him away. The work she was doing was some of her hardest yet, and for her, that was saying a lot. It was easier to fight then deal with the consequences of fighting.

"Looks like someone knew you were talking about him."

Cagalli looked up to see Kira approaching and couldn't help but smile. Andy drew his hand away and gestured that there was plenty of room. But Cagalli got the impression that he wouldn't be leaving them. And that was quite fine, she thought. Better to have him on hand in case anyone else decided to try to get close.

"Hey..." Kira waved and scrambled over to them. Cagalli saved her food before it got a layer of sand on it, though she wasn't sure she'd be eating any of it anyway.

"She was just talking about you," Andy said with a slight chuckle.

"I was talking about today's work," Cagalli corrected. "And Lunamaria deciding to be my new best friend. And before that, you."

"Trust me," Kira said as he sat, "I had plenty of new friends today, too."

"Oh?" Cagalli thought she probably didn't want details, but...

"Mostly your soldiers," Kira replied. Only after he looked down at the blanket did Cagalli realize he was blushing. "They... think some interesting things about you."

Andy started chuckling, as if he already knew this, and that made Cagalli angry.

"Not funny!" she exclaimed, frowning. "I don't want to have to go for troop inspections and know they're thinking..."

"About what they'd do if you were in their cockpit?" Kira supplied. He looked at Andrew and both men started another round of half-muffled laughter.

There were some things Cagalli did not need to be reminded of, and that was one of them. But more so, she just wished she felt a little better and had a good comeback.

"Hey..." Kira said after a minute. "You're not eating..."

"Not hungry," Cagalli replied softly.

"She's had a long day," Andy supplied, and Cagalli just nodded.

"Here..." Kira offered her something barbecued and stuck on a wood pick. "It's good."

"I don't know..." But Cagalli knew he was just trying to take care of her. She opened her mouth and he popped it in. Not bad, actually, except for the flash bulb in the distance that reeked of paparazzi.

They needed to get used to it. And...

"Thanks," she said once she'd swallowed. "I guess I should try to eat. I just..."

"Yeah," Kira trailed off for a moment... "Luna told me about some of what you two were working on. She was kinda green too."

Cagalli nodded. She didn't refuse the piece of pineapple that Kira offered her, though. Or another piece of meat.

"Are Murrue and Mwu coming down?" Kira asked after a couple moments of watching the water and other revelers.

"They're probably around somewhere," Andy replied. He smiled. "Good to let them have time together..."

"And I couldn't ask for a more proper escort," Cagalli added. She rather hoped he'd never considered anything involving her and a cockpit that wasn't piloting related.

"I guess if there's anything else, I'll need to..." Kira started, before looking at her for confirmation.

"I don't know," Cagalli admitted. "Probably. Since it's public and all."

"And people will be expecting it," Kira added, nodding.

"Iolana said she'll handle the itinerary for our first date," Cagalli commented a moment later. "I'll just send it to you, I guess."

"You're letting her pick?" Andy asked with a chuckle. "That's trusting."

"We agreed that it'll be something fun and simple," Cagalli explained. "That way... Kira and I can enjoy ourselves and then, y'know, be modest about anything else."

"Things we never got to do together growing up," Kira added. He offered Cagalli another piece of pineapple and she took it without question.

"And fake the other stuff," Andy said with a strange little smile.

Cagalli nodded. And Kira seemingly realized what he was doing. But didn't stop.

* * *

"Mini-golf?" Cagalli questioned. Oh sure, she'd played before, but it had never ended well. And...

"You wanted something playful and simple," Iolana replied, keeping her smile even though Cagalli was frowning.

"Yeah, but..."

"And a light dinner before, with dessert after." Iolana was firm. She'd followed Cagalli's wishes, after all.

Nodding, Cagalli resigned herself. She'd have to manage somehow. But she was not a golfer. And she doubted Kira was either. Of course, any roving photographers wouldn't be keeping score... Hopefully.

Maybe it would be fun.

"When?" Cagalli questioned.

"Two days from now," Iolana replied. "The night before the last day of ZAFT's commitment to Orb. That way if you two want to spend more time together after dessert..."

She winked. Cagalli... had to play along. Sure, she and Kira would probably talk halfway through the night, given the chance, but... That was not what Iolana - and the rest of the world - thought.

"Er... well, that's a..." Cagalli couldn't even quite finish.

"You don't sound excited." Iolana frowned and gestured to her computer, which was displaying a lovely background of Kira hand-feeding her a piece of pineapple the night before. Commander Waltfeld had been neatly cropped out of the photo, Cagalli noticed, even though he'd only been inches away from her.

And she still hadn't gotten a more personal message from Lacus, which bothered her. Surely there had to be something - but it hadn't come up again while sitting with the Commander and she didn't want to push the subject. Not yet, at least. All things in time.

Kira had promised to make time for her in the evening, but Cagalli wasn't holding her breath. They both had a string of commitments for the day and Cagalli knew that Kira was going to be visiting his parents in the afternoon.

Hopefully they were going to be understanding - it would make everything far easier. Everyone else who knew was playing along so far...

"It's just awkward..." Cagalli hadn't quite meant to say that out loud.

"Awkward?" Iolana gave her a funny look.

"All this being, y'know, so public." Cagalli hoped that sounded good.

"You'll be okay," Iolana said with a wide smile. "This will be very different than your previous courtship and wedding."

Cagalli had to look away - she couldn't hold her combined blush and wince.

"I'm not going to marry Kira." Really, that had to be said. Iolana should not even start thinking about that. Because that was a slippery slope and far beyond anything she wanted to get into.

"Well not any time soon," Iolana said cheerfully. "And you're right, you shouldn't be thinking about that possibility just yet. It's bad luck. Unless there's something else I should be aware of..."

She gestured at Cagalli's stomach and Cagalli's eyes went wide.

"N--no! Absolutely not," Cagalli managed. "Nothing like that. We haven't..."

And then she wished she hadn't said that, either. But the last thing she needed was pregnancy rumors.

"I didn't think so," Iolana said. "But keep me up to date if..."

Cagalli tried not to sigh. But a small one escaped and she quickly tried to cough to cover it up.

Iolana leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay to be nervous," Iolana said softly. "I'm here for you - and I'm sure Kira is just as nervous as you are."

Cagalli doubted that, but she didn't say anything.

"Just don't get ahead of anything," Cagalli managed after a long moment. "We're... a little worried about the distance and... well, you know... We just don't want to rush."

Iolana opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by her phone. A moment later, Cagalli's rang. She looked at the time.

Saved, all around.

* * *

She hoped, midway through the longest meeting ever, that Kira was having a better afternoon than she was.

The time after dinner, however, was all hers.

Kira did manage to get to her, though it was long after dark by the time he came apologetically sneaking in to her suite.

For the first few moments, they just clung to one another in silence.

"Mom understands, but she isn't thrilled," Kira finally said with a sigh. He drew away and took off his jacket.

"I think Iolana is planning our wedding already," Cagalli countered, circling around to sit on her sofa. Kira settled beside her a moment later, and without really thinking, she leaned against him instantly.

"That's a little premature," Kira noted after a long moment. "But I can understand why she'd be hopeful."

"Yeah... and then Athrun would show up to steal one of us away..." Cagalli sighed. "Might be easier to just break up now."

"Before our first date?" Kira questioned.

"It'd be easier-"

"Hey," Kira interrupted, "Iolana was supposed to tell you what we're doing, right?"

"Dinner, mini-golf and dessert," Cagalli replied.

"Mini-golf? Really?" Kira frowned.

"Yeah, it's... well, I guess it's what we asked for - playful and something we never got to do together as kids," Cagalli explained.

"Athrun's mother would take us to the course on the moon," Kira said with a little smile. "It was low-gravity, though, so that was really different than what this'll be."

"I've played here, but it's been years. Maybe we'll both be bad?" Cagalli suggested. She giggled. It'd be nice to see him be awkward at something.

Kira slipped an arm around her and pulled her closer. She relaxed against him.

"I could never beat Athrun," he said. "He took forever to hit the ball, but he always beat me."

"Sounds like him," Cagalli commented. She closed her eyes. Kira was warm and it just felt good to be held like that. "So... your parents...?"

"They're doing well," Kira said softly. "They would rather I come home."

"And leave ZAFT?"

"That's some of it. I told them that I'd think about it once we'd finished all the clean-up efforts." Kira reached to run his fingers through Cagalli's hair. "You've really been getting some sun the last few days..."

His last comment barely registered to her. Having Kira in Orb meant they could spend time together again. Except... that would only fuel the fire beneath Iolana and the entirety of the world's media.

"Mmm?"

"Your skin's darker than even the other night," Kira explained.

"Oh..." she hesitated on what she wanted to say next. Because she didn’t want to talk about her skin. She wanted to ask about the subject that was clawing at the back of her mind. "I... haven't heard from Lacus. Not personally, at least. You don't want to stay with her, even as..."

"I don't know," Kira admitted. "It's part of why I came down here - to think about everything. I kinda admire Athrun in that he just knew he had to go think and is off thinking about what he wants to do."

"He's just off avoiding everyone," Cagalli corrected. "He'll come back when he's ready."

"I guess that's what I'll do too."

"Do you want to talk about it at all?" Cagalli asked softly. "If you don't..."

"Not yet." He kept stroking her hair. "But it wasn't anyone's fault. Don't worry..."

Cagalli had nearly nodded off when Kira propped her back up and gave her a soft goodnight kiss on the forehead. She nearly asked him to stay--

But she knew she wasn't quite ready for that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, there is mini-golf, hand-holding and the moment when everything changes.

"I don't think Lacus ever has this many people following her around," Kira said as he flopped into the driver's seat of the late model car he'd borrowed from Mwu.

"You never kidnapped her from her own wedding," Cagalli replied as she slid in beside him. She sighed. "I really wish they hadn't had to call in the police, though. I wanted to do all of this without anyone else needing to be involved."

Kira reached for her hand, and she took it and squeezed.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked. "We can..."

"No," Cagalli replied firmly. "We're golfing and that's that. It's not like anyone's trying to be malicious. They're just... curious."

Kira let go of her and reached to start the car. "If there get to be too many people, though..."

"Yeah, I know." Cagalli leaned back in her seat. She was wearing shorts and sandals, perfect for the warm weather, and a lightly-patterned pullover top. Iolana had suggested a skirt. Her attendants had suggested far more formal things. Had they never played mini-golf? She was sure she'd need to wade into at least one little artificial running brook or chase a ball through animal-shaped shrubbery.

And Kira was thankfully out of uniform as well. Cagalli wasn't sure if his mother had kept some of his clothing for him or if he'd had to buy something new, but he looked good. Casual.

The miniature golf course wasn't terribly far from the restaurant, thankfully. Like many things, Cagalli knew it had been destroyed and then rebuilt. But she assumed that it was pretty much how she remembered - reminding herself that the hazards probably weren't as large as they were in her memory.

"Loser buys the winner's dessert?" Kira questioned when they arrived.

"For a week," Cagalli added.

"I'm not going to be here..." Kira started, only to be interrupted by Cagalli.

"Then you can just owe it to me."

"But I might win..."

"Not a chance," Cagalli said with a grin. She didn't even notice the lack of golfers until they were being given their clubs. By the owner.

"You two have a good time," he said with a wide smile. "You've got the entire course to yourselves tonight."

"Eh?" Cagalli frowned. "Can you afford that? I'd rather you didn't put yourself out for us..."

He nodded. "It's okay. Business will be through the roof for awhile after this."

"Thanks," Kira said. "We did have a little trouble at the restaurant. It's probably safer this way for your course, too..."

The owner chuckled. "The last thing I need is a herd of photographers trampling the flowers, along with curious golfers... I apparently could have charged a month's wage just to let people play the course with you two tonight, but... Ah... I shouldn't keep you kids with my rambling. Go have some fun."

Cagalli smiled at him. "Thank you." And she meant it, fully.

"You're welcome," he replied. He then looked straight at Kira. "And you, son, you make her happy."

Practically feeling the blush radiating off Kira, Cagalli grabbed his hand and led him out of the clubhouse.

"All of this for us?" Kira questioned a moment later, looking at the brightly-lit and sprawling course in front of them.

"Yeah..." Cagalli replied. She'd grabbed a scorecard while the owner had been talking and pencil and had jammed them in her pocket. And in the hand that wasn't still hanging on to Kira, she had a yellow-gold golfball and club. Kira had been given purple.

"Ladies first," Kira said, giving Cagalli's hand a little squeeze before letting go. She eyed him for a moment before marching over to the tee.

The hole was a simple one - various inclines and jutting rocks blocking the slightly-curving path. Shouldn't be that hard... She set her ball down, eyed everything once and then gave it a decent little whack with the club.

The ball shot forward, bounced off the first rock and up onto the little sidewalk that ran alongside the hole.

Cagalli blinked and glanced back at Kira. They both started laughing.

"Your turn," Cagalli said, stepping aside. She couldn't get too mad - it was exactly what she assumed would happen. But he'd better not do any better!

Kira grinned. "I'll get a hole in one," he said as he stepped up to set down his ball. And then he frowned.

"Okay," he said as he glanced at the rocks and the gentle curve. "This is really different with full gravity."

"I want to see you get a hole in one," Cagalli teased, watching him.

"Mmm, I think this'll just be a practice hole," Kira commented as he tapped at his ball. It rolled fairly straight before hitting the third rock and rolling back down to rest under the second rock, blocking him from making any sort of straight shot towards the hole.

"That wasn't bad," Cagalli admitted as she picked up her ball and set it back on the green. "No penalties for going out?"

Kira shook his head. "If you always hit the ball that hard, I'd win by default."

"Hey!" She managed to clear her ball over the rest of the rocks where it bounced off the sidewalk once and then landed a couple of feet from the cup. "It works when I hit it like that."

Kira chuckled. "Maybe this time... I don't think it'll work on every hole."

"So what are the courses like on the moon?" Cagalli asked as Kira gave his ball a little tap out into the center and then hit it carefully. This time it cleared a ways farther, but nowhere near as close to the cup as Cagalli's. Since he wasn't going to penalize her, she decided to ignore that little tap. The score was only for fun, and dessert, after all.

"Hoops, and moving things," Kira said as he stepped up onto the sidewalk beside her. "And air vents that'll randomly blow and move the ball..."

"There should still be a few moving obstacles around somewhere," Cagalli commented. She glanced around the course, but most of it was blocked by terrain changes and flowers and stone walls that were probably meant to keep balls from going too far from their destinations.

She didn't complain when Kira reached to guide her along with a hand on the small of her back. With one tap, her ball was in the cup and she smiled. "Three," she said firmly.

"Me too," Kira replied, knocking his own ball to the cup before she'd even grabbed hers. His looked to miss by a hair, so she just bumped it in with her hand.

Once she'd handed him his ball back, she marked their scores and smiled. "Pretty good so far..."

"Who did you come here with?" Kira asked as they walked down a short path to the next hole. It was lined with beautiful flowers, all in bloom.

"Some of the other officials' kids," Cagalli replied. "Sometimes there were just dozens of us and we ran all over the place..." She laughed. It was a good memory. But from a long time ago now, and everything had changed...

"Usually it was just me and Athrun. And his mother and sometimes mine," Kira commented. "Maybe I could bring her sometime. I don't know if it would be too sad..."

"It might be nice," Cagalli said. "You should ask her. I'm sure she just misses you in gene--"

"Cagalli?"

"That..." Cagalli pointed at the layout of the next hole. And then she started laughing. The obstacles weren't the model kit versions that she knew were available, the scale was wrong. Along the green path to the cup were a row of M1 Astrays and possessively guarding the hole was none other than Strike Rouge.

"Neat!" Kira exclaimed, rushing over to look at one. "I wasn't expecting anything like this..."

"I think they were something far less exciting when I was kid," Cagalli replied. "Not..."

"It adds a local flavor," Kira interjected. "I like them. Especially Strike Rouge..."

"Depends if I can get a ball past it," Cagalli said as she set down her ball at the tee. "Though poor Asagi, Mayura and Juri... they'd better not be stuck haunting here."

"I want to see if the rest of the course..." Kira started off towards the next hole.

Cagalli simply made her shot and this time it went clear through and around the mobile suits and instead bounced up the far edge of the course and into one of the rocky brooks that Cagalli knew she'd be dealing with again later as a full-fledged waterfall.

"This is rigged," she complained. She'd slipped off her sandals and was grabbing for her ball in the water when Kira came up behind her again.

"Looks like there are a few more themed holes," he told her. "Did you really hit it this far?"

"Yeah, and you missed it," Cagalli replied. "If you hadn't come back, I would have just marked myself down for a hole in one."

Kira laughed and Cagalli took the opportunity to splash him. He blinked once and grabbed for her, pulling her close. She stepped back into the water - that's why she'd taken her sandals off, after all. And then stood there, in his arms, clutching club and ball, staring up into his eyes.

"Kira..."

"Sorry I missed it," he said softly before blushing a bit and letting go. "I guess I should go take my turn. I won't wander off again. Promise."

"You'd better not," Cagalli said quickly. She set her ball near where it had gone astray before slipping on her shoes and watched Kira make his own shot. He too, had little trouble getting past the M1 Astrays. Instead, it was Strike Rouge that the ball hit, bouncing off the miniature machine's leg and rolling over to tap Cagalli's.

"Not bad," Cagalli said with a smile. "I gotcha..."

Kira chuckled. "You really didn't know this stuff was here?"

Cagalli shook her head. "It was dinosaurs and weird stuff back then. I guess when they rebuilt, they decided on this as a theme."

She stepped down onto the green and made her shot. Right into the cup. Kira followed suit.

"The next one is normal," Kira told her as the stepped onto the path again. There were bushes obscuring it, so Cagalli couldn't actually see anything, but since Kira had peeked ahead...

She was far more aware of Kira's arm around her waist, keeping her close. It wasn't bad. Not at all. Though this wasn't exactly the sort of behavior she'd expected. Unless...

Cagalli refused the thought. Kira was just playing along, even though she hadn't seen a flashbulb since they stepped onto the course.

By the time they got to the fourteenth hole, they'd avoided swinging PLANTs, battled aquatic mobile suits under the waterfall and even shot through a scale Archangel.

When Cagalli saw what had happened to the classic windmill, however, she couldn't help laughing.

"It's not that funny," Kira replied. Though a few seconds later, he was laughing as well.

While the basic framework for the windmill was still there, its facade had been enhanced with a large plywood cutout of Freedom. Instead of the windmill's blades, Freedom was spinning neon-painted beam sabers.

"Oh!" Kira dropped his ball at the tee and ran forward. "I didn't even see, but..."

While Freedom had the beam saber in the one hand, posed awkwardly so as to utilize the windmill's motor, the other hand had a rather undefined Cagalli.

"I'm going to pretend I'm not seeing this," Cagalli said. How utterly embarrassing. Especially considering everyone was going to be seeing this in the next weeks. This was going to turn into a total hotspot. Her entire nation was going to be seeing this minigolf hole.

"It's fun," Kira said as he walked back and then kicked his ball to the side. "Sorry, your turn..."

"I need to look at it..." The basics were still the same - hit the ball between the blades and it'd go into the windmill and through to the lower green. Miss and the ball would still keep going but it'd be routed differently and to a less preferable location. "Okay..."

She hit cleanly and the ball sailed right between the saber-blades and into the windmill.

Letting out a little victorious whoop, she ran forward to look for where the ball was going to come out. Kira ran after her, and they both watched as it sailed out a pipe down below the windmill and rolled straight into the cup. A perfect hole-in-one.

"Beat that!" Cagalli challenged him.

Kira smiled. "I can do that too..."

They both raced back to the tee and Kira made his shot, but he wasn't quite fast enough. The edge of a saber struck the ball and made it wobble just enough that it still rolled into the windmill. But... once they'd both ran down and waited, it didn't reappear.

"What now?" Kira questioned.

"Eh?" Cagalli replied. "I think there's a little door to go in and unstick your ball..."

Kira was right behind her as she walked back to the windmill and sure enough, there was a thin door with a cupboard handle on it. Inside the small space was a flickering bulb hanging from a bare fixture.

"Let's see..." Cagalli saw the trough that the ball should be in... while Kira's ball hadn't been knocked off course, it had slowed enough to get hung up at the curve of the main pipe. "I guess you can just tap it and I'll look the other way."

Kira chuckled and stepped over to it. "You can count it as a second shot. If it goes in, it won't really be a hole in one..."

"We'll see..." Cagalli stepped back and stayed quiet, listening to the windmill's motor creak and hum above their heads.

Kira gave the ball a little tap, it rolled forward, and after a quick bounce, it took the furthest right of the four possible tubes it could roll into.

"Not a hole in one," Kira said with a headshake.

"It's okay," Cagalli replied. "There are still four holes left."

"Yeah... Hey, you look really nice tonight, by the way."

"You're telling me that now?"

Kira nodded and before Cagalli had quite figured out what he was doing, he'd pulled her close again.

"Kira..."

"I'm sorry, Cagalli."

"For what?" She couldn't really see his eyes in the shadowy, dim light, but there was something in his voice that worried her.

"This."

Her eyes went wide when he kissed her, and then fluttered closed. She dropped her golf club between them and grabbed for his shirt to...

But she didn't want to push him away. Instead, she opened her mouth to the kiss and didn't hesitate to respond.

It took a particularly loud creak from the windmill's motor to separate them and then they jumped apart like the other had burned them.

"Kira..."

"I should see where my ball went," he replied quickly, rushing out of the windmill. Cagalli grabbed her club and followed him.

The ball had landed at an impossible angle to get into the cup. Cagalli wrote him down for a three anyway.

He didn't look at her properly until they got to the eighteenth hole - the ball return. Instead of the clown's mouth that Cagalli remembered, it was now a half-sized GINN head. Hitting the mono-eye won a free round.

Before taking her shot, Cagalli reached over and grabbed Kira's hand and squeezed it.

"Hey, this has been perfect," she said softly.

"All of it?" Kira asked. "I..."

"Yes," Cagalli replied firmly. "All of it."

She paused and tried to line up her shot.

"Maybe not having to get my ball out of the water three times, but the rest..."

Kira was quiet until her ball had missed the GINN's mono-eye completely and had rolled to land with the rest of the brightly colored balls that had been collected.

"Then you feel..."

Cagalli nodded.

Kira gave his own ball a hefty thwack and it hit the mono-eye dead on, which triggered a light and buzzer.

They'd obviously have to do it again.


	5. Chapter 5

"You look like you had a late night," Iolana commented as she stepped into Cagalli's office with her datapad and the day's newspaper.

"I did," Cagalli replied. She had a mound of paperwork in front of her and a renewed interest in taking care of all of it. As soon as possible. It would be all she thought about, if she could help it.

Because paperwork was far easier to think about than Kira.

Kira was...

"Wonderful," Iolana said with a smile. "Let me know when I get to start on wedding plans..."

"No," Cagalli said softly. "Not yet... And what you're thinking... no..."

She'd actually sent Kira home not long after they'd arrived back. Dessert had been a brief distraction from the energy between them. They'd kept their hands together, feeding each other and squishing into one side of the restaurant's booth.

And once they'd gotten away from the photographers, behind tightly-closed doors, they kissed again.

It still didn't feel wrong. Instead, it felt like the most right thing that she'd ever done. Which didn't help at all.

When she'd thought she was the only one wrestling with all the wrong sorts of emotions, it had been easier to push them aside. After all, if she had only needed to deal with her own feelings, eventually they should have gone away, not...

Just knowing that Kira felt the same way as she did. That he wanted her and that every touch and gesture for the last week wasn't chaste at all -- she couldn't stop thinking about it all night. As far as she knew, she hadn't slept a wink.

Not when she was wracking her brain to try to rationalize everything. They hadn't been raised together. He was a Coordinator, she wasn't. But they were twins... And people knew. Not many, but enough, and they were all her closest friends and confidants. What would they think?

Murrue had known, Cagalli realized. But she'd always been so close with Kira. Maybe she could sneak off to Morgenroete. Once the pile of paperwork was done.

"Then I'm not sure," Iolana said. She held up the paper, which had a photo from dessert, complete with snuggling and attempting to feed one-another.

Cagalli groaned.

"But your popularity is up," Iolana continued. "And there's almost a universal acceptance of your current happiness."

"I don't want people thinking about what I'm doing with Kira," Cagalli complained. She put her head down on her desk. "At least he'll be away..."

"You shouldn't sound so happy about that," Iolana commented. "I don't understand why you're so upset about the relationship when you're talking to me but when you're with him..." She held up the paper again.

"I guess I'm just not quite ready to let myself be happy," Cagalli replied. "At least not until all of this paperwork is done."

"You could have at least gone down to the docks to see him off," Iolana chided. "He'll be sad."

"He'll be back," Cagalli replied. "Besides..."

She didn't get to finish as the door to her office flew open and an out-of-breath Kira staggered in.

"Cagalli..."

Iolana let out a little happy squeak.

"Kira! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be leaving in less than an hour?" Cagalli questioned as she stood and rushed over to him. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head.

"Just wanted to see you," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Wanted to tell you..."

Cagalli gestured that perhaps Iolana could leave and close the door behind her.

Luckily, Iolana caught the hint and did so promptly.

Once they were alone, Cagalli leaned against him.

"Kira, we can't go any further with this..."

"That's not true," Kira replied. "Trust me?"

"But..."

He kissed her, hard. She grabbed at his uniform jacket as he held her against him, one hand at the nape of her neck, the other sliding down to rest against her ass.

Still didn't feel wrong, no matter how wrong she wanted it to feel. Not wrong at all. Nowhere near wrong.

Moaning into the kiss, Cagalli didn't want it to ever end. If Kira shoved the papers off her desk and pushed her onto it, she wouldn't refuse him.

Kira's phone rang. He pulled away and swore.

"I have to go," he said, wincing. "Like, now."

"We'll talk when you get back," Cagalli replied.

"Trust me?" Kira asked her. He kissed her cheek.

"Always," Cagalli said.

He was gone a moment later. Cagalli looked at the clock and realized they had to be holding the ship for him at this point. She shook her head. Stupid little brother... and lover.

When Iolana crept back in a few minutes later, Cagalli was already burrowed into her paperwork and refusing to look back.

* * *

A few days later, a message from Lacus finally arrived, courtesy of Commander Waltfeld.

"It's password protected," he explained, handing her a tiny flash drive that she quickly plugged into her laptop.

"And she thinks I'd know the password?" Cagalli questioned, frowning. "She just e-mailed this to you?"

Andy nodded.

"You and Kira..."

"I don't need the lecture," Cagalli interrupted. "And I need to talk to Murrue at some point, by the way. I just... I have had paperwork."

"You're adults making your own decisions," Andy said. He gave her a little salute and headed towards the door. "But I've had an opinion about the two of you for a long time."

"You're not going to wait and see what this says?" Cagalli asked, gesturing at the computer screen. She had the file up, but indeed it was asking for a password.

"Not without an invitation," Andy replied. "Though I'll admit curiosity."

Cagalli waved him over to sit beside her. "Better if I have a witness... though no hint?"

"She said you'd know." Andy sat carefully. He was still averting his eyes like a proper gentleman.

Cagalli sighed. What would Lacus choose that would mean something to...

"Got it!" she exclaimed, typing quickly.

F-R-E-E-D-O-M. She hit the enter key and the file opened automatically.

`Dearest Cagalli,`

`I apologize for the delay in sending this, but much like the rest of the world, I wanted to observe your romance for myself before commenting.`

`I'm sure your first question is about what happened between Kira and myself. He is and will always be someone who means so very much to me, but we just aren't compatible for a long-term romantic relationship and we both accepted this before there were too many hurt feelings.`

`While I know the context for the first photograph, I am a little surprised at how you two decided to play it out...`

`With the newest picture, I can tell it’s not playing any longer. You two have always had a special chemistry and given the circumstances, there's no harm in how you two feel about one another.`

`Please keep in touch, Cagalli. And please take care of Kira.`

`-Lacus`

Leaning back, Cagalli sighed again. Everything would be so much easier if people would stop being so accepting. Then she could tell herself that what they were doing was bad and wrong and be done with it.

"Cagalli?" Andy questioned.

"It's all good," Cagalli said quietly, tilting her laptop screen so that he could see it. "It's..."

Andy took a minute to read the letter and then shrugged. "People just want to see you happy," he said.

"I know, but..."

"What if you didn't know?" Andy asked her.

"Mmm?" She eyed him as he stood and straightened his uniform.

"If you didn't know that Kira was..."

"I don't know!" Cagalli exclaimed and crossed her arms. "I guess... nothing would have kept us apart."

"Exactly." He offered her a little salute and was gone.

* * *

Waiting was the hardest, most agonizing part. She'd thought a couple of weeks would pass quickly, while Kira was in Australia, but slowly she was going crazy.

And the original plan was for them to break up on his way back through Orb. That wouldn't be happening. Unless it would.

The way Kira had kissed her rather suggested it wouldn't, while the quiet consent of everyone around her simply made her question everything she'd been telling herself for the last few years.

She'd thrown herself into her work - it was a welcome distraction and meetings no longer seemed endless. The longer they were, the more that was accomplished and the closer it became to the day Kira would return.

Slowly, the daily articles dropped off from the internet and newspapers, aside from a short interview with Kira and one more flowery press release from Iolana followed by three more about things like services for the recovered dead, another memorial and education spending, the last of which had little to do with Cagalli aside from her signature on the final document.

Iolana was doing a wonderful job - aside from leaving bridal magazines lying about. Those were frustrating and annoying and something Cagalli didn't want to think about. Marriage in general... just made her think of Yuna and how that had gotten so awful so quickly. He hadn't always been that... awful.

She wished she had some way to get in touch with Athrun. But she also figured that if he wanted to be found, he'd make it obvious. So far, no one had mentioned seeing him and no one had mentioned getting messages from him either.

There was a quick knock on the office door and Cagalli looked up - she was trying, but the sun was getting lower in the sky and she'd read and re-read the same page a dozen times without really understanding more than it was covered in words.

"Come in," Cagalli called. She stretched and wondered if she should put her jacket back on. Likely anyone visiting her so late in the day would expect her to have shed a bit.

"Good news," Iolana called as she cracked the door and slipped in. She was holding out her datapad and smiling.

"Isn't everything good news to you?" Cagalli questioned as she reached for the thin, dark purple device. Cagalli wasn't sure just yet, but she thought Iolana switched devices almost monthly - always had to have the newest thing.

"Not quite," Iolana corrected, and only then did the correct saying pop into Cagalli's mind. A second later, she was distracted anyway.

"Eh?" Cagalli blinked as she skimmed over the 'news' article that was up on the screen. She'd really lost track of the days somewhere in there, because either she was hallucinating or she was reading about the end of the joint Australia clean-up, or at least this cycle of it, and along with a few Orb teams, Kira was on his way back too.

She had to read it twice.

'ZAFT's Commander Kira Yamato, most recently seen romancing Orb's Cagalli Yula Athha, apparently plans to sweep the young leader off her feet again, though not as flamboyantly as the first time, when he kidnapped her from her own wedding ceremony...'

"Already?" Cagalli questioned. She... wasn't ready. She was. She...

Immediately she rethought her decision to just see what would happen. They couldn't... even if everyone else thought they could. Certainly, she hadn't asked Karida.

Kira had told her to trust him and she so badly wanted to...

"Already," Iolana said with a smile. "And since he'll be back tomorrow, I've taken the liberty of arranging for a nice quiet night in for you both."

"I... well, okay..." Cagalli swallowed hard and tried to sort out her emotions.

"Cagalli," Iolana said as she took her datapad back from Cagalli's hands and turned the screen off before setting it down on the desk. "I know you're having a hard time letting yourself enjoy this relationship and I can't pretend to know why, but... just relax. Eventually the press fuss will die down and..."

Cagalli nodded, not really listening to the rest of Iolana's attempt at comforting her. Iolana couldn't begin to imagine and hopefully would never find out.

And Kira had told her to trust him.

"...should probably go get a good night's sleep," Iolana concluded.

"Right," Cagalli said softly. That, at least, was what she was planning to do anyway. Though now, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to sleep at all.

* * *

'You should meet him at the dock,' Iolana had texted during breakfast. But Cagalli had sent back a quick negative - she couldn't spent the entire morning mooning down by the water. She had an important meeting to attend, after all - one that had been rescheduled once for other reasons and that would be frustrating to have to fit into her schedule again. And besides, she was quite interested in hearing the committee report on ongoing aid towards rebuilding Western Europe.

Kira would understand. And it would give him time to relax as well, and shake off any travel weariness.

'Maybe lunch with him,' Cagalli texted back a couple minutes after getting to her office to grab a handful of things she needed. Her afternoon included a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a rebuilt library and tea and snacks after. Maybe Kira could even go along with her. They'd be doing that sort of thing in the future, if...

That was too much to think about. She wondered if Kira accompanying her would overshadow the importance of the library.

There was a knock at her office door and one of her aides stepped in. "Everyone's ready," the aide said quickly, with a smile. "I think they were afraid you'd reschedule..."

Cagalli shook her head.

"Not a chance," she said. "I'm looking forward to the entire presentation, including photos and video."

Some of that mess, she had helped make. And some of it was Kira's... Though there was no blame now - only hope for recovery and the future.

* * *

"There's an outfit waiting in your suite," one of her maids said as Cagalli made her way through her residence. She'd quietly teared up a couple of times during the presentation, smudging the small amount of make-up she'd put on in hopes of not looking too awful if she happened to tear up during the presentation. A wasted effort.

"Thank you," Cagalli said with a little smile. "And lunch?"

There hadn't been an answer from Iolana, so Cagalli assumed it wasn't do-able.

"Awaiting your request, Miss Athha," the maid replied.

"About five minutes," Cagalli said. She didn't quite want to change yet, but she did want to be comfortable. The maids had seen her take meals in enough states of casual undress that she hoped it wouldn't be a problem if she opted for a tank top and shorts before she had to change into something that was undoubtedly overly formal for the afternoon. And then her outfit and appearance would be photographed and graded, as it always was, and Iolana would encourage her to wear a bit more make-up or skip certain colors or cuts.

She sighed as she closed her bedroom door behind her, already undoing her blouse and not paying a bit of attention to anything aside from...

"Wow..."

Cagalli froze, gaze darting over to her walk-in closet where apparently...

"Kira?"

"Cagalli!" Kira cried, appearing from the depths of her closet a second later. "Ah..."

He paused, looking her over and lingering on the undone buttons of her blouse.

Cagalli couldn't help blushing and was almost relieved by it. "I was just going to put on something simple... to eat lunch..."

"Before going to a thing at the library," Kira finished with a nod. "Yeah, I saw what one of your people picked out and thought maybe you had something better..."

Laughing, Cagalli made her way over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. A second later, Kira reciprocated and for a long moment, they just stood that way.

"Have you been waiting long?" Cagalli asked, risking everything and bringing her lips softly to his neck. He was out of uniform already, and she knew she needed to ask where he was staying. But it could wait...

"Weeks," Kira replied after a soft gasp. "Months... Years..."

"You better not have been in my closet for y--" Cagalli was interrupted by Kira's mouth on hers. There was no question of whether or not to yield. She was sure that anything he wanted, she wanted as well.

His mouth was still on hers, tongue hot in her mouth as he started at the buttons that Cagalli had abandoned. She couldn't help moaning and digging her fingers up into Kira's hair.

The knock at the door made them both freeze.

"Lunch," a muffled voice announced.

"Lunch," Cagalli echoed softly, pulling away. "I..."

"I know," Kira said. "Should be enough for both of us."

Cagalli sighed, paused, and then quickly kissed his cheek.

"Lunch... and would you like to go see a new library with me?"

"Yeah," Kira said as he reached to grab one of her hands and squeeze. "And after that... we've got some talking to do."


End file.
